Chapter Ten #2
Was her life finally turning around? Did she dare hope?
Bella needed a few minutes to absorb all that had just happened with her father. She sat next to Sienna on the floor and watched her daughter touch some of the shiny ornaments on the Christmas tree as a hard steady rain came down outside. “Careful, baby. We don’t want to break them.”
Just then the front door burst open and Cooper walked inside, bracing Jared with an arm across his shoulder. Jared’s leg was dragging behind him and blood dripped down his face. Cooper guided him toward his bedroom. They were both drenched.
“Cooper?” she called as they passed the living room.
“Jared decided to take his bike out in the rain,” Cooper said over his shoulder as he continued moving. “The roads were slick and he took a curve too fast.”
“I told you why,” Jared lashed back. Bella gasped and plucked up Sienna, taking her into the kitchen and handing her a baby cracker. “Here you go, sweetie. Play with your dollhouse and Mommy will be right back.”
Bella approached the bedroom and saw Cooper facing Jared, who was half sitting, half leaning against his pillows on the bed. “You get permission from the doctor to drive and your first decision is to hop on your bike in the middle of a storm?”
“It wasn’t storming when I left the house,” he said through gritted teeth.
“What was I supposed to do? Johnna called in a panic. Her dog knocked loose a steel pipe in the barn and it fell on top of him. The dang thing would’ve crushed Rusty to death if I hadn’t gotten there fast enough.
I had to take the back road shortcut and that meant taking the Harley. ”
Cooper closed his eyes and shook his head. “Man, bro. You don’t get it. You went out on slick roads and nearly got yourself killed. This is your second crash this month. When are you gonna learn?”
“Don’t lecture me, Cooper. I’m gonna be fine.”
“Yeah, once again you defied the odds. How many more chances do you think you’ll get?”
Bella stepped up then. “Jared, are you all right?”
“I’m just a little banged up. I’ll be fine,” he assured her.
“Someone should look at your leg.” She glanced at his ripped pants. Blood was already drying on the wound.
“I’m bruised. That’s all. No big deal,” he said.
She walked into the bathroom, soaked a towel with hot water and antiseptic soap and then returned to the bedroom.
“Here,” she said, handing him the towel.
He appeared startled. Did he expect her to nurse his wounds?
He could’ve been killed today. Did the man have a death wish?
“For your face. You’ll frighten Sienna if she sees you like that. ”
She glanced around the bedroom, the place where magic happened between them, the place where she’d felt safe and sheltered.
But she didn’t feel that way anymore. Now, her eyes were open wide, seeing Jared as he really was, perhaps for the first time.
The healthy version of Jared Stone was a man who loved to test his limits.
He had a garage full of vehicles to pursue his pastime and he’d never tried to hide his true personality from her.
In fact, he’d been only too happy to share his love of speed and danger with her.
He’d said it himself. He wanted to live his life fully before time ran out, the way it had for his father.
Jared, once free of restrictions and physical limitations, couldn’t wait to hop on his motorcycle and race the storm.
And she had been too busy falling in love with him to think this through.
Now the cold slap of reality hit her hard.
Jared Stone wasn’t father material. He wasn’t husband material. He was a man who had been kind and caring to her, but that’s where it had to end.
Bella had already lost one good man. She couldn’t stand to lose another.
Not to death. It was too final, too heart-wrenching.
And she’d learned one lesson from her father, if only one, and that was she’d never try to change a person who didn’t want to change.
If this was the way Jared wanted to live his life, she wouldn’t stop him.
“Cooper, will you check on Sienna for me? I need to say something to Jared.”
“Uh, sure.” He gave her a knowing look, bowing his head to her, his eyes seeming to plead with her to be gentle. “Take your time.”
Once Cooper left the room, she had Jared’s full attention. Her heart pounded in her chest, her eyes stung and the words were hard to come by. “Jared, I’m...sorry. This isn’t going to work.”
“What isn’t?” His hand froze where he’d been cleaning the blood off his face.
“You and me.” She managed a tiny smile.
“Bella, you don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I do know what I’m saying. I’m saying...we’re over.”
“What, because of this?” His voice rose. He tossed the towel aside and stood, but his wounded leg gave way. He collapsed back on the bed.
Her heart bled, seeing him that way. He braced his elbows on the bed and stayed put. “I can’t do this again,” she said. “I’ve been down this road before. I’ve already lost one good man.”
“Bella, come on. You’re not gonna lose me. I’m here. I’m fine. I couldn’t let that dog die.”
“But you could’ve taken your car and driven a little slower.
You could’ve been more cautious with your life.
Every time Paul went up in his chopper, I worried.
But he was doing his job, supporting his family.
It’s what he knew. And when he died, I was crushed.
He left me a lonely widow with a child to raise on my own.
It’s taken me a long time to get to this place in my life. ”
“I’m not going to let you go.”
“You can’t stop me. I’m not one to criticize anyone’s life choices. Lord knows my father did that to me to the point of suffocation. He tried to run my life and take away my own dreams, my own passions. I won’t do that to you. No matter how much I care about you, we’re not a good fit.”
“I say we are.”
“No. You’re not what Sienna and I need.”
His gaze burned right through her. “Not true, Bella. You know how good we are together. All three of us.”
Oh, God. His words destroyed her. She wanted to believe him, to trust him, but she had Sienna to think about. She had to protect her from another loss. It was better to end it here and now. “There’s more I have to tell you and you’ll be less inclined to want me around once you hear it.”
“There’s nothing you can say—”
“I’ve been lying to you.”
He blinked and gave her a dubious look. “What are you talking about?”
“I promised your mother I would tell you. And I meant to right away, but then Sienna got sick—”
“My mother?” His brows furrowed, his expression growing dim. That and the blood caking on his face made him appear dangerous. He was, to her well-being. “Bella, what does she have to do with this?”
“My name’s not Bella. My real name is Francesca Isabella Forte. I’m heiress to the Forte Foods empire. Your mother recognized me. I’d met her once, a long time ago.”
“Where?” he demanded.
“In San Francisco...where I grew up. I only came to Dallas to spend time with my friend Amy. And then I met you.”
He pushed a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe this.”
It killed her to see his utter disappointment, the admiration he held for her rapidly fading. The loss hit her in the pit of her stomach and she felt the blood drain from her face. How would she ever get over Jared Stone?
She went on to explain. “I’m estranged from my father, and I’ve been...I’ve been hiding out here at Stone Ridge Ranch. Trying to make a new start.”
His eyes shot fully open. “So you’ve been lying to me about everything?”
“I’m terribly sorry, Jared. But my father cut me off, or so I thought, and I needed to—”
He stood now, on his own. Pain lined his face and she cringed.
He could barely hold himself up, yet he remained standing, favoring his wounded leg.
“You needed what? To lie and deceive me? Give me a run for my money? Oh, no, maybe not that. Since you’re loaded,” he said, raising his voice.
“Here I thought I was giving you a home, a job, a place to raise Sienna and all the while...what? You were playing a sick game with me.”
“No, it’s nothing like that. It’s about Sienna. I really thought she was in danger.”
“From who?”
“My father. He threatened to take her away from me, to sue me for custody. I panicked and ran. I’ve been through a lot this past year and I—”
Jared stared at her and began shaking his head. “Are you really a widow?”
“God yes, I wouldn’t lie about something like that. Everything I told you about my life before was true.”
“You lied about everything else. You didn’t trust me. You didn’t tell me the truth. And you know how much I hate liars.”
A shudder ran through her. He was comparing her to Helene, a woman who’d broken his heart and made him wary and closed off. Now he equated her with that awful, cheating woman.
Her emotions high, tears spilled down her cheeks. She never wanted to hurt Jared. She still loved him, but now, even friendship would be too much to ask of him. “I...I couldn’t take the risk.”
“I’ll never be able to trust you.” His eyes grew cold, hard. She’d never seen that look on his face before. “I thought you were perfect. My perfect angel.”
She didn’t have to say she wasn’t. That had become abundantly clear.
“You saved my life and I’ll always be grateful...” His voice trailed off and he fell back onto the bed, his shoulders slumped. “We were never meant to be.”
“No, I know that now. But, Jared, I really didn’t want it to end this way. I had planned to tell you the truth.”
He snorted in disbelief.
“I really did.” Her daughter was her primary concern, and she couldn’t subject Sienna to Jared’s reckless ways. Even if he could ever forgive her, they wouldn’t work. They wanted different things in life. Heartbroken, she had to face facts.
There was no way back from this.
Dread pulsed in the pit of her stomach. “I guess we’ll be moving out.”
He put his head down and nodded. “Do you have a place, Francesca?”